Emergency gate causing delays for firefighters

Cambridge Times

On Jan. 5, Cambridge firefighters went to rescue a child choking in an east Hespeler neighbourhood. The most direct route to the scene was along Hammet Street to Housler Lane, through an emergency gate set up almost 10 years ago to control development around Our Lady of Fatima. When firefighters arrived at the gate, they weren’t delayed by the gate, but by debris left by residents.

“We had to run through that debris to get to the choking child on the other side of the gate,” explained Fire Chief Bill Chesney during Monday night’s city council meeting.

While firefighters reached the child in time, Chesney admitted that it was a close call.

“The child could have perished or had brain damage,” he said in putting forward his case for removing the gate and creating a through street.

In his report to council, Chesney stated there has always been problems with maintaining the $33,000 gate, installed in 2007.

Fire and planning officials call it a bad idea and estimate that response times from Station 2 on Tannery Street would increase significantly if the gates failed to operate – from 2:40 minutes to 4:36 minutes.

“This additional response time is significant and represents a serious concern in the event of a gate failure,” Chesney’s report states.

According to the Canadian Red Cross, roughly one in 10 deaths in Canada result from a heart attack. Permanent brain damage is likely to occur within four to six minutes after a person stops breathing.

Initially, an automated gate system was installed, but it was vandalized beyond repair. That was replaced with a low-tech gate system with breakable chain link. The weak link in the chain would break when a fire truck slowly push through it. That too was trashed by vandals on several occasions and area residents replaced it with an unbreakable chain that ended up damaging a fire truck and causing an unacceptable delay. In the last five years, two incidents have been reported where unsecured gates in other parts of the community have injured children.

Last fall the city inspected all gates in the community and secured them to prevent potential injuries. On Nov. 11, firefighters responding to a call had to cut the lock securing the Hammet Street gate before they could reach their destination. That resulted in the gate being removed and Emergency Access Only signs were posted. Later, public workers installed spring-loaded flexible posts in response to resident concerns.

Since January the fire department has encountered debris barricades blocking the Hammet Street/ Housler Lane gateway on four occasions. Three of them were during non-emergency situations. The fourth time, Jan. 5, involved the child who was choking.

Hespeler Coun. Rick Cowsill is caught between the wishes of the community and the needs of the fire department.

“Keeping firefighters safe is an absolute must,” said Cowsill, however he wasn’t ready to support the staff request to remove the gate and extend the street.

Cowsill noted that opening the street could also create another “major safety concern” for children attending Our Lady of Fatima School, which sits near the gates.

“This could be a scary, scary scenario,” he said.

Cowsill asked that the matter be referred until the Feb. 28 meeting when a report of the cost to complete the street connection is brought to council. He also asked for a report from the fire department listing the number of times the gate has been used over the last five years. Chesney said Hammet Street is the best way for the fire department to get to that area of Hespeler.

“There are a lot of people downstream from this gate that are impacted,” Chesney said, as he asked council to make a quick decision.

“I’m not trying to stop this, but before we make a decision we should have the total picture,” Cowsill said.

Mayor Doug Craig suggested that the report could be presented at next Monday’s council meeting and a decision made then. Council agreed.